It’s pretty awkward that Mitch McConnell’s campaign manager Jesse Benton was caught on tape in January saying that he was only going to work for McConnell to help Rand Paul’s presidential campaign in 2016 and that he was basically going to “hold his nose” for the next two years while he worked to reelect the Human Turtle. It doesn’t help that Benton is caught up in a scheme to pay an Iowa state senator to switch his allegiance from Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul in the lead-up to the Iowa Caucuses. I guess it’s a rather simple thing to replace his campaign manager and it will be largely forgotten by November next, but part of this arrangement was about preventing any daylight between McConnell and the Paul camp, and that seems to have blown up in their faces.
Lie down with dogs and get up with fleas.
I’m sure it doesn’t help to have a picture of him actually holding his nose floating around either.
I want to know what McConnell’s reaction was when he found out about this. As far as mean bosses go, he probably makes Anna Wintour look like Mr. Rogers by comparison.
You asked, he answers.
I’m guessing that was shot only after McConnell tore this guy a new asshole and then took an hour-long rage nap.
And apparently Mr. Campaign Manager is in even bigger trouble than that: http://theiowarepublican.com/2013/in-his-own-words-sorenson-confirms-payment-for-ron-paul-endorsemen
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Oops.
the guy on MSNBC said that McConnell is between a rock and a hard place, get rid of the guy alienate/lose his connection to the Pauls, keep the guy and how exactly do you trust him?
If this is a new pic, then I guess they’ve decided to stick with him
That’s probably as good a response as McConnell could have put out. Nicely done.
Things are looking bad for McConnell, but he is the rare Republican with a quality political mind these days. He could well be the Harry Reid of 2014, bucking the national trend with a well-executed, well-designed campaign.
Well, you don’t get to be Majority/Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate for nothing, ya know? A Senate chief-of-staff once described Senators to me as “the 100 Olympians”, in terms of their political prowess. And the leadership is at the very top of that heap.
Grimes has a shot, for sure, but I’ll be surprised if Mitch isn’t around in 2015.
McConnell’s problem in Kentucky is he appears to have been so busy making Obama fail he has failed to take care of Kentucky. No earmarks, no spending legislation, military bases laying civilian workers, and any other stupid sequestration furloughs.
You can, however, get to be House Speaker without any particular skeelz.
Eh. Even John Boehner is extremely good at politics compared to most everyone you’ve ever met. I’m talking pure political skills, not how good he is at the job of being House Speaker. Actually, that’s not a fair comparison, because the man has one of the top political jobs in the land. A closer example would be a backbench, first or second-term Rep. Even if they’re a straight up wingnut from Crazytown, they’re better at politics than 99% of everyone else in the country.
It’s just because getting elected to office – almost any political office, really – is hard. And getting elected to national office is very, very hard. There’s just so many other people who want those slots. And to beat them you have to have a baseline level of political skills that most other people simply don’t have. Most people can’t schmooze, can’t fundraise, can’t stump, can’t strategize on the level you need to win. Say what you want about Boehner or any of the other dumbasses in his caucus, but they’re United States Congresscritters and they beat a helluva a lot of other people out for the job.
I tend to think of national politicians as professional athletes – if not Olympics, then NBA, NFL, MLB, etc. There’s an insane level of competition just to get on the field, let alone be successful once you’re in Congress. So when we mock politicians for make political mistakes, it’s very similar to when we yell at the TV screen because Kobe Bryant missed a free throw or CC Sabathia walked a batter. We have every right to criticize them; that’s the American way after all. But there’s no way that most of us could play the game at the level they do and survive for very long.
But is “politics,” defined as being able to get elected and build a popular following, really the same as “politics,” defined as maneuvering within Washington?
Or is it the same game played at a higher level?
Is getting 200,000 votes in a Congressional election like getting 230 votes in the House for your bill, or different? Does it draw on the same skill set?
Well, there’s obviously a lot of overlap between the two skill sets (elections v. maneuvering). I guess I was referring more to the former since we were talking about McConnell’s election.
There are definitely folks who are great at getting elected but ineffective at getting much of anything done once they get to DC. And probably a much larger category of folks who would be very effective if they could get into Congress, but can’t for whatever reasons.
But because you can’t play the Congressional game unless you can get there first, I’m not sure how much the distinction matters.
Do be fair, I think you can rely on consultants to strategize for you but you definitely need those other things to be accepted by votes and other legislators.
Chris Matthews of all people put it well, he said that losing in politics is hard because you are personally rejected by so many people.
Then there is this:
Which is a lot older, but still so good!! It’s based on the Dr. Seuss story 😉
In the not terribly unlikely event that Benton will need to seek new employment soon, I hear the Wiener campaign is hiring.
I tend to think of national politicians as professional athletes – if not Olympics, then NBA, NFL, MLB, etc. There’s an insane level of competition just to get on the field, let alone be successful once you’re in Congress. So when we mock politicians for make political mistakes, it’s very similar to when we yell at the TV screen because Kobe Bryant missed a free throw or CC Sabathia walked a batter. We have every right to criticize them; that’s the American way after all. But there’s no way that most of us could play the game at the level they do and survive for very long.
La Solution Aux Régimes
Words can’t describe how much I despise Mitch McConnell and his style of “leadership.” If the human turtle becomes roadkill it will restore my faith in the electorate, somewhat (even if the roots of his demise are a failure to appease an even crazier right-wing fringe).
I have no doubt that his lack of popularity in his home state is due in no small part to a neglect of local concerns, leavened by a perception that the guy is such a partisan Yahoo he really is willing to sacrifice national interests and needs on the “pure obstruction” altar.
Hey Mitch, you tried like hell to make Obama a one term president to the exclusion of everything else. You lost. It really is time to leave yourself: Exit stage, right.